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Venture capitalists continue to toss millions at companies supplying technologies to defend cyber attacks. The latest example: an investment group led by Paladin Capital Group, Ascent Venture Partners and Intel Capital this morning announced $12 million in funding for PerspecSys.

The McLean, Virg.-based cloud-security and data protection firm will use the cash to support global expansion and technology innovation.

That deal follows investors pumping $15 million into Cylance, $50 million into FireEye and $23 million into Endgame in recent months. Those four deals alone add up to a neat $100 million chasing tech security companies deemed to have great growth potential helping companies defend their networks against data thieves and cyber spies.

CyberTruth asked PerspecSys CEO David Canellos what it's like running a hot tech security company in this environment.

David Canellos is CEO of PerspecSys(Photo: Len Spoden)

CT: What's going on with investments in security tech?

Canellos: The number of attacks on U.S. government, military and corporate computer systems is growing every year. So interest in security technology investments has been on the rise as smart people saw a need growing there. We all have our personal information stored in different computer systems. Thieves are willing to go to great lengths to get that valuable personal information. The investments in security tech are aimed at ensuring that the good guys maintain ownership and control of the data.

CT: Why do VCs suddenly appear to be enamored with security tech?

Canellos: If you look at the last five years, a lot of investment went into social media sites like Facebook and Linkedin. Just as much went into healthcare systems that keep our medical records, and into cloud computing. Interest in securing all that information is catching up now because people see how vulnerable the systems are to theft of data. It's like buying a car with a factory security system and then realizing you're parking in a neighborhood every night that isn't as safe as you thought it was. So now everyone is looking at ways to improve the security system, even build a garage around the car.

CT: So what does PerspecSys bring to the party?

Cannellos: Sensitive data get swapped by our product with meaningless replacement values. So if the information is ever exposed to the hacker, it is meaningless. But we do this in such a way that the user of these cloud systems does not know we are in the middle swapping the data. To them the service is the same.

CT: Who is it aimed at?

Canellos: Banks, Insurance companies, government, healthcare providers, really every company that has important data sitting on computer systems on the internet.

CT: Anything else you care to add?

Canellos: It is not just about security. Many companies need to comply with a tangled web of data privacy laws and regulations. Add in the Internet, with data moving between companies and across borders and it gets impossibly complicated very fast. We help companies deal with this problem by allowing them to keep their sensitive data close to home.